Reinforced glue laminate beams, or reinforced glulam beams, are wood laminates which are reinforced with one or more synthetic layers. Glulam beams are frequently used in place of conventional wood products such as beams, columns, cantilevered supports or trusses to provide structural support and integrity in the construction industry. Glulam beams are structurally more sound and are often less expensive than conventional wood products. The synthetic reinforcement layers are typically positioned between individual wood layers of the glulam beam to improve the tensile or compressive loading of the resulting beam.
Current commercially significant glulam beams comprise layers arranged such that the synthetic layers are near both exterior surfaces of the beams, e.g., wood/reinforcing lamina sheet/wood/wood/wood/ reinforcing lamina sheet/wood. The strength of the glulam beam is a function of the ability of the reinforcing lamina sheet to take load uniformly and the degree of adhesiveness between the individual lamina within the glulam beam. In this arrangement, the reinforcing lamina sheet positioned between the uppermost wood lamina and the second wood lamina is subjected to substantially pure compressive stresses when the glulam beam is used in a construction project such as a building. The reinforcing lamina sheet positioned between the lowermost lamina and the adjacent lamina is subjected to substantially pure tensile stress.
The reinforcing lamina sheets for glulam beams are typically formed of unidirectionally oriented fibers in a resin encasement that surrounds the fibers and fills the interstices between the fibers. The reinforcing lamina sheet is then selectively positioned within the glulam beam to improve the tensile or compressive properties of the beam. The reinforcing lamina sheets are typically adhered to the wood lamina by a commercial grade non-epoxy adhesive such as a resorcinol based adhesive. When the reinforcing lamina sheet comprises aramid fibers or other high strength fibers, it is often difficult to cut the final beam to a desired length or to a different width, or to finish the edges of the glulam beam.
Prior art reinforcing lamina sheets are generally formed by a fabrication process referred to as pultrusion. Pultrusion is a continuous manufacturing process for producing fiber reinforced plastic parts of indefinite length. Pultrusion involves pulling the flexible reinforcing fibers through a liquid resin bath and then densely compacting the saturated fibers through a heated die where the reinforced plastic is shaped according to the die mold and the resin cured. A drawback of this process is that the heated die step of the conventional pultrusion process subjects the composite material to significant pressure, often in the range of 50-80 psi. The surfaces of a pultruded reinforcing lamina sheet are generally smooth with little or no aramid fibers along its outermost surface. Accordingly, the surface must be abraded so that an adhesive will bond to the aramid fibers to an adjacent lamina, i.e., wood or reinforcing lamina sheet. Also, the unidirectional fibers of the pultruded reinforcing laminates are not uniformly tensioned throughout the process and, therefore, when stressed within a glulam beam, do not uniformly receive load.
An example of the prior art is U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,498,460, 5,456,781, and 5,362,545 all to Tingley. The Tingley '545 patent describes a conventional process for forming glulam beams. Specifically, the laminate is pultruded in a straight fashion. The pultruded composite is then abraded to expose the aramid fibers in order to get a proper degree of adhesion between the wood and the composite using conventional adhesives. Once the composite is formed, the layers are glued together forming the beam and the beam is compressed using multiple "C-clamps" at a minimum of 100 psi with the general rule for soft woods being 125-150 psi. The beam is then cured at room temperature and allowed to sit for approximately 24 hours in its compressed state. Once the glue has hardened, the C-clamps are removed from the glulam beam and the beam is finished by trimming the sides and polished to prepare the beam for commercial sale.
The Tingley '460 and Tingley '781 patents are similar to the Tingley '545 patent. The Tingley '460 patent describes providing recesses in the laminate to facilitate adhesion between the fiber reinforced lamina and the wood layers. The Tingley '460 patent forms these recesses by either providing a material which is nonreactive with the resin additive and removing it after the composite is formed, using a nonreactive gas or low boiling point liquid which dissipates as the resin is being cured, or abrading the composite as described in the Tingley '545 patent. The Tingley '781 patent also describes the use of the abrasion process and further describes the importance of covering the complete surface of the reinforcement with adhesive.